Clinton pushed Meek to quit Fla. race

Bill Clinton sought to persuade Rep. Kendrick Meek to drop out of the race for Senate during a trip to Florida last week — and nearly succeeded.

Meek agreed — twice — to drop out and endorse Gov. Charlie Crist’s independent bid in a last-ditch effort to stop Marco Rubio, the Republican nominee who stands on the cusp of national stardom.

Story Continued Below

Meek, a staunch Clinton ally from Miami, has failed to broaden his appeal around the state and is mired in third place in most public polls, with a survey today showing him with just 15 percent of the vote. His withdrawal, polls suggest, would throw core Democratic voters to the moderate governor, rocking a complicated three-way contest and likely throwing the election to Crist.

The former president’s top aide, Doug Band, initially served as the intermediary between Meek and Crist, and Clinton became involved only when Meek signaled that he would seriously consider the option, Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna confirmed to POLITICO.

“The argument was: ‘You can be a hero here. You can stop him, you can change this race in one swoop,’” said another Democrat familiar with the conversations, who said Clinton had bluntly told Meek that he couldn’t win the race.

Crist also confirmed the planned scenario Thursday night, telling MSNBC's Keith Olbermann: "I had numerous phone calls with people very close to President Clinton."

And Clinton himself described the conversations in an interview with CNN.

“He was trying to determine what was the best thing for him to do,” Clinton said, adding that Meek was simply too short on cash to break through. “I knew it was being discussed, people had discussed it on and off… it was no secret.”

“He was trying to think about what was the best thing for Florida,” Clinton said.

In a press conference, Meek issued a calibrated denial, taking issue with the statements by Crist and Clinton's spokesman.

"Any rumor or any statement from anyone that says I made a decision to get out of the race is inaccurate at best," Meek said. "There was never a deal."

Meek conceded that Clinton had asked him about reports that he was going to drop out, but suggested that he'd quickly ended the conversation, and he stressed that he had never actually decided to drop out.

Clinton did not dangle a job in front of Meek, who gave up a safe House seat to run for the Senate, but instead made the case that the move would advance the congressman’s future prospects, said a third Democrat familiar with the conversations.

Clinton campaigned with Meek in Florida on Oct. 19 and 20, and thought he had won Meek over. But as the week wore on, Meek lost his enthusiasm for the arrangement, spurred in part, a third Democratic source said, by his wife’s belief that he could still win the race. Clinton spoke with Meek again at week’s end, three Democrats said, and again Meek said he would drop out.